04/03/2001 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 4/3/2001 ,~~ convince them that they need to accept that. Whatever they work out with the property owner is strictly between those parties. 5) He is in the process of working out terms and conditions for the acquisition of the abandoned gas station and expects to have that probably under contract to be presented to Council within the next month. Finance Director Copfer: 1) Said she felt compelled to respond to Councilpersons Kasler and Miller who voted against the city's annual budget because of their perception that she had, in the estimating of resources, inhibited their ability to do their job. The Councilpersons felt that the revenue projections were `ultra-conservative." She finds this incredulous considering what is happening daily with the economy: local companies are laying off employees; the city's swing of 2000 income tax from the prior year, where in March we were 8% ahead of 1999 to only 3.3% ahead of 1999 at year end; we have no new major income tax source in 2001; Cleveland's budget debacle where they cited their corporate tax collections were down 45% currently; the current state budget is projecting a shortfall in revenue and they are scrambling to cut expenses and potentially dip into the rainy day fund; the state has passed estate tax law changes which are reducing our revenues; local government funds are being discussed to be reduced (currently approximately $1,200,000 of our general fund revenues) possibly in this calendar year. She feels more convinced, after going to New York and presenting to trained financial professionals, that the current revenue projections are appropriate. She was elected by this community not to necessarily do the `popular thing" but what she, as an experienced financial professional, believe to be in the best interests of the city and its finances. She is the chief financial officer of this city and is both the administration's and Council's financial advisor in these matters. She has a responsibility and is accountable to the residents who elected her to stop the fiscally irresponsible practices that were in place in the previous administration. She has done, and will continue to do, what is in her power to lead the city in this direction. We are in the process of fiscal recovery as evidenced by Moody's upgrade last year to a higher rating, but it takes continued fiscal discipline that she, the administration and Council has been committed to and she hopes will continue to be committed to. 2) Mrs. Kasler had asked for revenue comparison reports for the three key areasr- property tax, income tax and estate taxes. There is a comparison on each account's expenditures to their estimated budget in the monthly revenue and expenditure reports that Council receives. However, she does not have a system generated report that compares to priox years, so she created an Excel spreadsheet to compile those. She will give this to Council monthly because she thinks that is also an important benchmark. 3) Today the January and February expenditure and revenue reports were distributed. The delay was due to waiting for the appropriations to pass and entering them into the system so that these reports provide relevant information. Mrs. Kasler, chairperson of the Intra-Governmental Relations and Legislation; Long- Range Planning Committee: 1) Said she is sorry to see Mrs. Copfer took her comments personally when she voted at the last meeting because she was very careful to make sure that is not how they were meant. 4 ~,r.,,.-..........